Beatles FAQ

Real fans chase The Beatles around London's Marylebone Railway Station in the opening of A Hard Day's Night. This is meant to be Lime Street Station in Liverpool - but the script was in fact inspired by the first 'Beatlemania riot' in Dublin on 7 November, 1963 . Read full story on Medium (free - 3 mins)

Photo by  Nick Fewings  on  Unsplash Paul :   What I think… the main thing is this: You have always been boss. Now, I’ve been sort of secondary boss.” John :  Not always. Paul : No, listen. Listen. No, always. From the secretly recorded conversation in The Beatles: Get Back (2021) John Lennon began what became The Beatles - Paul and George joined his band when all three were teenagers. That is what Paul is referring to in the documentary. Whether John remained 'the boss' through to the end is a more open question.  Read more  (free)

Liverpool was heavily bombed in 1940 Contrary to Aunt Mimi’s later recollection, John Lennon was not born during an air-raid. The shadow of the Second World War was, however, very apparent at his birth. 

Always intensely competitive, The Beatles monitored the output of their rivals closely. None came close to matching their commercial success but this was not the only criteria that mattered to them. Above all The Beatles wanted to remain ahead of their peers. Of their direct competitors Bob Dylan loomed largest. Though slightly younger than them, Dylan released his second album  The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan in May 1963. From its casual cover to the rebellious themes of its songs ('Blowing in the Wind, Times they are a changing, Masters of War etc) its seemed to throw down the gauntlet to the establishment.  Though many assumed Dylan was posing a political challenge, the deeper resonance was cultural. The key word in the title Freewhelin' expressed seemed like a direct challenge to the previous 'greatest' generation. They had gone to war to defend freedom - here was a young man clearly enjoying it. He had his girl and his guitar - and he wasn't settling down anyti...

'Love Me Do' is Paul's song. He wrote it when he was a teenager. Let me think. I might have helped on the middle eight, but I couldn't swear to it. I do know he had the song around, in Hamburg, even, way, way before we were songwriters"  John Lennon in David Sheff's : All We Are Saying). [8]   For their first single, George Martin wanted The Beatles to record a promising song by Mitch Murray, a young British songwriter.   I was convinced that How Do You Do It was a hit song. Not a great piece of songwriting, not the most marvellous song I had ever heard in my life, but I thought it had that essential ingredient which would appeal to a lot of people.   The boys stubbornly refused, 'We couldn't sing that in Liverpool,' they told him. 'We want to record one of our own songs.' Reluctantly, Martin allowed them to record LOVE ME DO - the song he considered the best of a bad bunch.   Read full story (free) on Medium (3 minutes)

The Beatles collect their MBEs - contrary to myth they were  thrilled to get them Paul McCartney has often expressed his admiration for Queen Elizabeth, who came to power five years before he joined The Quarrymen.  We all kind of liked the Queen. It’s an age thing. We were kids when she was crowned, so to us she was like a glamorous film star. We identified with her. She’s ours. She’s the Queen.   Interview with the Radio Times, September 2019 The Beatles with Princess Margaret. The four Beatles tracks which mention the late Queen Elizabeth II are:  Penny Lane For You Blue Mean Mr Mustard Her Majesty Read more  (free) Free Beatles Teaching Materials

The Beatles recorded four songs in German, though only two were officially released. 

Pete Best was The Beatles drummer from August 1960 until August 1962. He was with them in Hamburg and at their first Abbey Road recording session. He played an important role in establishing The Beatles popularity in Hamburg and Liverpool, but had a slightly distant relationship with the others. By the summer of 1962 the other Beatles were plotting against him. Using the pretext that George Martin had rejected his drumming as sub-standard they approached Ringo Starr, an old friend of the band from Hamburg.  Read the full story behind the sacking of Best (free on Medium 6 mins) The Beatles: free teaching materials